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Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton

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In addition to Ethan Frome, this Bantam Classic edition contains the novella The Touchstone and three short stories, "The Last Asset," "The Other Two," and "Xingu." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Short, sweet, but not so to the point
I believe that this book could be classified as one of those stories that you are glad you took the time to read after you finish it, but getting to that final stage of completion is more of a task than it may seem.

Surprisingly, this is one of the few short stories (90 some pages) that I have ever read, that seemed to droan on for a good half of the time.Never the less, there were some profound moments in the story in which I felt I had been given some truly great moments in literature.My only qualm was that it needed to be about half (or cut it down by a fair 20 pgs) so the reader would not loose so much interest.Do remember though, it is only 90 pages long, so it is not one of the more monotonous scripts out there. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

War and the family
"A Son at the Front," a novel by Edith Wharton, has been republished with an introduction by Shari Benstock.Benstock notes that the novel was serialized from 1922 to 1923 and that an edition was published by Charles Scribner's Sons in 1923.The novel tells the story of John Campton, an American portrait painter who lives in France.Campton's son George, because he was born in France, is subject to mobilization in the French army for World War I.As the story unfolds we see the war's impact on father and son, as well as on George's mother (from whom Campton is divorced) and her current husband, and on other individuals.

Wharton poignantly portrays the anguish and challenges faced by the families of soldiers during wartime. She shows how the horror and violence of war touches even those who are far from the front lines.Yes, I felt that the story briefly dragged at times and that some of the minor characters could have been better drawn, but the novel is overall interesting and at times profoundly moving.I was particularly intrigued by the fact that George is the child not of a happy, saccharine couple, but of a divorced couple who are forced to come together over their common concern in time of war.It is in the drama involving George's parents and stepfather where the book often has its most powerful edge.

This book offers an interesting look at the role of soldier's families, and also of the arts community, during wartime.Also significant is Wharton's look at the importance of personal letters as a communication medium during war.More than eighty years after its initial publication, and with the United States once more at war, "A Son at the Front" remains a relevant work of literature by one of America's most noteworthy novelists. ... Read more

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Great Collection
This collection of stories is a treasure for those who love the works of Edith Wharton. Her short stories are amazing and enlightning. This book does a wonderufl job of collecting some of the most well known and lovedshort stories of Edith Wharton... ... Read more

Product Description
The Age of Innocence (1920) is a novel by Edith Wharton, which won the 1921 Pulitzer Prize. The story occurs among New York City's upper class in the 1870s, before electricity, telephone, and automobiles; when there was a small cluster of old, "aristocratic" Revolutionary War-stock families who ruled New York's social life; when being was better than doing; when occupation and abilities were secondary to blood connections (heredity and family); when reputation and appearances excluded everything and everyone not of one's caste; and when Fifth Avenue was so deserted by nightfall that it was possible to follow Society's comings and goings, by spying who went to what house.

In 1920, The Age of Innocence was published twice; first in four parts, July-October, in the Pictorial Review magazine, and then by D. Appleton and Company as a book in New York and in London. (Quote from wikipedia.org)

About the Author

Edith Wharton (1862 - 1937)
Edith Wharton (January 24, 1862 - August 11, 1937) was an American novelist, short story writer, and designer.

Wharton was born Edith Newbold Jones to the wealthy New York family often associated with the phrase "Keeping up with the Joneses". She combined her insider's view of America's privileged classes with a brilliant, natural wit to write humorous and incisive novels and short stories. As such, she was well-acquainted with many of her era's literary and public figures, including Henry James and Theodore Roosevelt.

In 1885, at twenty-three years of age, she married Edward (Teddy) Robbins Wharton, who was twelve years her senior. From a well-established Boston family, he was a sportsman and a gentleman of Ms. Wharton's social class and shared her love of travel, although they had little in common in ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Age of hypocrisy
It was a glittering, sumptuous time when hypocrisy was expected, discreet infidelity tolerated, and unconventionality ostracized.

That is the Gilded Age, and nobody knew its hypocrises better than Edith Wharton.... and nobody portrayed them as well. "The Age of Innocence" is a trip back in time to the stuffy upper crust of "old New York," taking us through one respectable man's hopeless love affair with a beautiful woman -- and the life he isn't brave enough to have.

Newland Archer, of a wealthy old New York family, has become engaged to pretty, naive May Welland. But as he tries to get their wedding date moved up, he becomes acquainted with May's exotic cousin, Countess Ellen Olenska, who has returned home after dumping her cheating husband. At first, the two are just friends, but Newland becomes more and more entranced by the Countess' easy, free-spirited European charm.

After Newland marries May, the attraction to the mysterious Countess and her free, unconventional life becomes even stronger. He starts to rebel in little ways, but he's still mired in a 100% conventional marriage, job and life. Will he become an outcast and go away with the beautiful countess, or will he stick with May and the safe, dull life that he has condemned in others?

There's nothing too scandalous about "Age of Innocence" in a time when starlets acquire and discard boyfriends and husbands like old pantyhose -- it probably wasn't in the 1920s when it was first published. But then, this isn't a book about sexiness and steam -- it's part bittersweet romance, part social satire, and a look at what happens when human beings lose all spontaneity and passion.

Part of this is due to Wharton's portrayal of New York in the 1870s -- opulent, cultured, pleasant, yet so tied up in tradition that few people in it are able to really open up and live. It's a haze of ballrooms, gardens, engagements, and careful social rituals that absolutely MUST be followed, even if they have no meaning. It's a place "where the real thing was never said or done or even thought."

And Wharton writes distant, slightly mocking prose that outlines this sheltered little society. Her writing opens as slowly and beautifully as a rosebud, letting subtle subplots, poetic prose and powerful, hidden emotions drive the story. So don't be discouraged by the endless conversations about flowers, ballrooms, gloves and old family scandals that don't really matter anymore -- they are trappings to the story, and convey the stuffy life that Newland is struggling to escape.

In the middle of all this, Newland is a rather dull, intelligent young man who thinks he's unconventional. But he becomes more interesting as he struggles between his conscience and his longing for the Countess. And as "Age of Innocence" winds on, you gradually see that he doesn't truly love the Countess, but what she represents -- freedom from society and convention.

The other two angles of this love triangle are May and Ellen. May is (suitably) pallid and rather dull, though she shows some different sides in the last few chapters. And Ellen is a magnificent character -- alluring, mysterious, but also bewildered by New York's hostility to her ways. And she's even more interesting when you realize that she isn't trying to rebel, but simply being herself.

"Age of Innocence" is a subtle look at life in Gilded Age New York, telling the story of a man desperately in love with a way of life he hasn't got the courage to pursue. Exquisite in its details, painful in its beauty. ... Read more

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Tales of betrayal, folly, and moral fervor acted out against a stark New England backdrop. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

interesting book
You should read the book if you like english villages or have a favor for melancholy storys.It is very emotional written and ethan frome is her masterpiece. ... Read more

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Since its publication in 1905 The House of Mirth has commanded attention for the sharpness of Wharton's observations and the power of her style.A lucid, disturbing analysis of the stifling limitations imposed upon women of her generation, Wharton's tale of Lily Bart's search for a husband of position in New York Society, and betrayal of her own heart, transformed the traditional novel of manners into an arrestingly modern document of cultural anthropology.With incisive contemporary analysis, the introduction by a leading scholar of American literature updates this increasingly important work. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Achingly Beautiful
The House of Mirth is undoubtedly one of the most poignant and heart-wrenchingAmerican classics.

While those of the Jane Austen persuasion spend the entirety of her novels waiting for the ultimate moment wherein the mishaps will be cleared and the characters will finally admit to each other all they need to admit so that past regrets pave present happiness, the House of Mirth is a tragedy of a message...or word... unspoken.


The love story between Lawrence Selden and Lily Bart is heart-wrenching because it is so palpable, so infinite, so evitable and yet so hopeless.Lily's personal sacrifices on account of her love and her untimely demise leave a painful gulp in your throat and a tug at your heart.

If only... If only.... You can't help repeating as you turn the final page.


Lily Bart is often listed as one of the most important and intriguing characters in, not only Edith Wharton's world, but the 20th Century. She is a serene product of the Gilded Age: a woman whose marriageable commodity is threaded with an astute sense of pride and independence.A few mis-steps ( hapless and innocent ) and Lily is thrown from the Society which petted and embraced her to a world where she is utterly useless. Dejected and most certain of her meaningless and empty offering to society, Lily's tragedy is not in losing what she had in the social spectrum yet in what she never gained: an outlet for her broad mind, her engaging and humourous wit, the strength to acknowledge, admit and accept a love that just slightly evades her.


This novel is beautiful and frustrating and dire and tragic and devastating and golden. It awakes emotions that prompt a physical response.You will wring your hands, bite back tears, shout mercilessly to a kind of mirror- ---- you know that your voice is lost in a vacuous portal --- that Wharton holds all of the puppet strings that you, like Lily and Lawrence Selden will be washed out amidst a sea of conniving and social climbing villains who permeated an age of lust, heartlessness and greed.

It's a wonderful read.

Mirthless House
America and Europe of the 1800s were stiff, gilded, formal place, full of "old" families, rigid customs and social transgressions. Especially for women.

And nobody chronicled them better than Edith Wharton, who spun exquisitely barbed novels out of the social clashes of the late nineteenth century. "The House of Mirth" is one of her darker stories, where scandals and lack of conformity trigger a tragic downward spiral for a vibrant woman.

Like most not-so-rich women, Lily Bart is on the prowl for a marriage to keep her in luxury and affluent circles. What's more, she has a rapid intellect and striking looks, but she is also a habitual liar who defies society's strictures (she gambles and smokes). Her only friend is Lawrence Seldon, but she is determined not to marry for love alone.

Unfortunately, her schemes and plans start to collapse -- her adoring suitors either aren't rich enough, or her independent spirit sends her off. Her desperation becomes even more intense as she finds herself in the thick of a scandal, spun up by a malicious society matron to cover up her own affair. With her reputation in ruins, Lily's life spirals down into a new life of unemployment, poverty, and the final tragedy.

Edith Wharton always paid a lot of attention to a woman's restricted life in the Gilded Age, and how scandals, unconventionality and society's hypocrisy could ruin them. But "The House of Mirth" pays more attention to this than most -- it's a bleakly realistic story, unflinchingly showing Lily's slow descent into miserable loneliness.

Despite that, Wharton's writing is pure flowering poetry with a knack for evocation ("Her small pale face seemed the mere setting of a pair of dark exaggerated eyes"), and has a sensual quality with all the descriptions of silks, plants, soft light and luxurious mansions. And she vividly portrays the upper echelons of New York society at the time -- affairs, gossip and gilded salons -- as well as the restricted lives of women

But Wharton is just as capable of describing the darker, sadder world that Lily falls into ("... blurred the gaunt roof-lines, threw a mauve veil over the discouraging perspective of the side streets"). Sedoesn't pull any punches with the tragic finale, which has a distinct air of inevitability about it -- no fairy-tale last-minute save by a Prince Charming.

Lily starts out the book as a glimmering satellite of society, who can be rather selfish and cruel, but who nevertheless gains some sympathy for her terrible plight. The cruel, glittering society of the time had no room for women who stood outside the lines, especially if they tried to lie at all the wrong times. And so we see poor Lily, driven into miserable poverty and drug addiction.

"The House of Mirth" is anything but mirthful -- it's the study of a woman's slow downfall, and the cruel society that left her friendless and disgraced. Haunting and vivid.

Tragic, beautiful and captivating. I adored this book!
I was totally overwhelmed by 'The House of Mirth'. Although it was clear that Lily's short sightedness was responsible for her downfall, I find it difficult to pin point exactly why the character evoked such strongfeelings of sympathy from me. Her beauty makes her captivating, and she isso naieve and inexperienced, that you cannot help but feel so much sadnesswhen things take an inevitable turn for the worse. The ending wasincredibly emotional, and so moving, illustrating the point that, at theend of the day, beauty will not secure success or fulfillment. I cannotreccomend this book highly enough - it is beautifully written with acomplex yet incredibly loveable female protagonist. In my opinion, thisbook is underrated. It is certainly worthy of the title "ModernClassic."

(I would so appreciate anyone who could e-mail me withtheir views on this book. After reading it I have decided to write myuniversity dissertation on this and some of Wharton's other masterpieces -jenn_146@hotmail.com ... Read more

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(Book Jacket Status: Jacketed)

These three brilliantly wrought, tragic novellas explore the repressed emotions and destructive passions of working-class people far removed from the social milieu usually inhabited by Edith Wharton's characters.

Ethan Frome is one of Wharton's most famous works; it is a tightly constructed and almost unbearably heartbreaking story of forbidden love in a snowbound New England village. Summer, also set in rural New England, is often considered a companion to Ethan Frome-Wharton herself called it “the hot Ethan”-in its portrayal of a young woman's sexual and social awakening. Bunner Sisters takes place in the narrow, dusty streets of late nineteenth-century New York City, where the constrained but peaceful lives of two spinster shopkeepers are shattered when they meet a man who becomes the unworthy focus of all their pent-up hopes.

All three of these novellas feature realistic and haunting characters as vivid as any Wharton ever conjured, and together they provide a superb introduction to the shorter fiction of one of our greatest writers. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Short stuff
In a way, Edith Wharton was at her best in her novellas -- her stories are lean, taut and emotionally striking.

And the novellas "Ethan Frome, Summer, Bunner Sisters" brings together three of her most powerful novellas, elongated short stories that explore love, morality, betrayal, the conventions of the time in women's live, and poverty. They're not just fascinating, but beautifully written.

"The Bunner Sisters" is one of Wharton's darkest stories, in which two timid sisters run a small, failing shop together. When Ann Eliza gives Evalina a gifts, they both become involved with the mysterious man, Ramy, who sold it to her. Ann Eliza attempts to sacrifice money and happiness for her sister's happiness, but neither knows what Ramy is hiding from them, or how it will destroy their lives.

"Ethan Frome" is the male half of a loveless marriage, with the fretful, fussy Zeena. Then Zeena's lovely cousin Mattie Silver comes to live with them, and she brings out a happier, more passionate side of Ethan. But when Mattie is sent away, Ethan must make a decision. He knows he can't stay in his horrible marriage, so will he run away with Mattie? The choice they make will affect all three lives.

"Summer" shocked the 1917 public, with its frank-for-its-time look at a young woman's sexual awakening. It takes place in the New England village of North Dormer, where the young librarian Charity lives. But when Charity falls in love with an upper-class young rake named Lucius, she finds herself pregnant and unmarried -- a destructive combination in the 1900s. There's only one respectable way out.

Edith Wharton gave unvarnished looks at social conventions throughout her career -- she doesn't judge, she just tells it how it was, whether she's talking about the Roaring 20s or the uptight Victorian era. Divorce was almost unthinkable, affairs scandalous if revealed, and women had the cards stacked against them in matters of love, marriage and sex.

So her works are even better when you set them in context, full of characters who were totally unlike her. Some were male, some timid and naive, some potentially disgraced, and some completely broken by society's dictates. Few of her characters are much like Wharton, but she gets inside their heads and makes them entirely believable.

Wharton's formal, often poetic writing style makes these stories all the richer. They're rich with light, smells, sounds and the swirl of nature, even in a city. But it's offset by the starkness of her stories -- if she took a hard look at hypocrises and social conventions, she didn't flinch from showing what happened to those that transgressed. It's realistic, but a bit depressing.

These three novellas are not easy reading -- each one is a powerful, harrowing story wrapped in Wharton's beautiful prose. Magnificent, but difficult. ... Read more

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The Touchstone. please visit www.valdebooks.com for a full list of titles ... Read more

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Halo Tarrant, abandoning her failed marriage, elopes to Europe with the brilliant young writer, Vance Weston. As they travel around, her only wish is to serve him and his genius. But, ignoring the pain her amiguous status brings, Vance takes her loving attentions for granted and rejects the critical advice he had formerly welcomed. This distinguished novel, companion piece to HUDSON RIVER BRACKETED, first published in 1932, shows a writer's struggle for integrity and maturity, and the difficulties which, even in the most idealistic relationship, beset men and women in a changing but hypocritical moral climate. ... Read more

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Customs of the country
America and Europe of the 1800s were stiff, gilded, formal place, full of "old" families, rigid customs and social transgressions.

And nobody chronicled them better than Edith Wharton, who spun exquisitely barbed novels out of the social clashes of the late nineteenth century. This collection brings together four of her best books, exploring the nature of infidelity, passion, social-climbing and a woman's place in an unfriendly world.

"Age of Innocence" is a pretty ironic title. Newland Archer, of a wealthy old New York family, has become engaged to pretty, naive May. But during his engagement, he becomes acquainted with May's exotic cousin, Countess Olenska -- and after his marriage, his attraction to the mysterious Countess and her unconventional ways becomes even stronger. Will he become an outcast and leave with her, or stick with a life of conformity and safety?

"The Custom of the Country" takes whatever is biting about "Age of Innocence" and magnifies it. Undine Spragg is a mesmerizing beauty from a tiny town, who wants the best of everything, more than her family can afford. She begins marrying "old money", leaving divorce, death and broken hearts in her wake -- and hiding a then-shameful secret. The only way to succeed lies in the one man who sees her for what she is.

But the mockery in "House of Mirth" is not meant to be funny, but saddening and eye-opening. Lily Bart is on the prowl for a marriage to keep her in luxury and affluent circles. But her schemes and plans start to collapse, as she rejects all her adoring suitors, and a nasty society matron decides to deflect attention from her adultery by accusing Lily falsely. Her life rapidly descends into a spiral of wretched unemployment and poverty.

"Ethan Frome" is far more tragic in nature than any of the others. The titular character is the male half of a loveless marriage, with the fretful, fussy Zeena. Then Zeena's lovely cousin Mattie Silver comes to live with them, and she brings out a happier, more passionate side of Ethan. But when Mattie is sent away, Ethan must make a decision. He knows he can't stay in his horrible marriage, so will he run away with Mattie? The choice they make will affect all three lives.

Wharton tended to pay attention to three things: human nature, society, and how the two often clashed. These four books are, in fact, crammed with the societal clashes of the time: infidelity, divorce, the impact of "new money," and what it took for a person to break out of the bounds of society -- and the cost it had.

Her writing is striking even now -- it has the formal, detailed quality of nineteenth-century prose, but it isn't nearly as stuffy. Instead, her writing is lush, perfumed languid and shimmering with repressed emotion -- even "Custom of the Country," with its nasty shallow anti-heroine, has moments of pure lyrical beauty, although they usually come from someone else.

And her characters come to life with startling reality. Wharton never resorts to sentimentality or cheap tricks to make us react to them -- stuffy "aristocrats" of the New World, tormented farmers, and bright bohemians. The more brilliant, appealing characters like the tragic Lily and the free-spirited Countess are easy to feel liking for, but Wharton even makes the less appealing characters -- like the wishy-washy Newland -- realistically complex.

These four novels are among the best that Edith Wharton ever penned -- intricate looks at society and human nature, wrapped up in beautiful writing. Utterly exquisite. ... Read more

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"Ethan Frome," a classic novel, was published in 1911 by the Pulitzer Prize-winning American author Edith Wharton. It is set in turn-of-the-century New England in the fictitious town of Starkfield, Massachusetts, and adapted into a film (which starred Liam Neeson) in 1993. Edith Wharton set "Ethan Frome" in a fictional, wintry New England town named Starkfield. There an unnamed narrator tells the story of his encounter with Ethan Frome, a man with dreams and desires that end in an ironic turn of events. The narrator tells the story based on an account from observations at Ethan Frome's house when he had to stay there during a winter storm. Ethan's character is one that comes full circle, moving from silent desire to action to quiet submission, ordered by life's circumstances. "Ethan Frome" is all the more remarkable for its forbidden impressions of rural working-class in New England, especially given that its author was a woman of leisure. The name of the small Massachusetts town represents a bleak, cold and dismal environment. Lenox is also where Edith Wharton had traveled extensively and had come into contact with one of the victims of the accident. Ethan and Mattie cannot escape their dreary life in Starkfield. The connection between the land and the people is a recurring theme of the novel. The narrator is amazed by the harshness of the Starkfield winters and through his experience of the winter he comes to understand the character of the people. In her introduction to the novel, Edith Wharton talks of the "outcropping granite" of New England, the powerful severity of its land and people. This connection between land and people is very much a part of naturalism; the environment is a powerful shaper of man's fate, and the novel represents this relationship by constantly describing the power and cruelty of Starkfield's winter. ... Read more

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Mirthless House
America and Europe of the 1800s were stiff, gilded, formal place, full of "old" families, rigid customs and social transgressions. Especially for women.

And nobody chronicled them better than Edith Wharton, who spun exquisitely barbed novels out of the social clashes of the late nineteenth century. "The House of Mirth" is one of her darker stories, where scandals and lack of conformity trigger a tragic downward spiral for a vibrant woman.

Like most not-so-rich women, Lily Bart is on the prowl for a marriage to keep her in luxury and affluent circles. What's more, she has a rapid intellect and striking looks, but she is also a habitual liar who defies society's strictures (she gambles and smokes). Her only friend is Lawrence Seldon, but she is determined not to marry for love alone.

Unfortunately, her schemes and plans start to collapse -- her adoring suitors either aren't rich enough, or her independent spirit sends her off. Her desperation becomes even more intense as she finds herself in the thick of a scandal, spun up by a malicious society matron to cover up her own affair. With her reputation in ruins, Lily's life spirals down into a new life of unemployment, poverty, and the final tragedy.

Edith Wharton always paid a lot of attention to a woman's restricted life in the Gilded Age, and how scandals, unconventionality and society's hypocrisy could ruin them. But "The House of Mirth" pays more attention to this than most -- it's a bleakly realistic story, unflinchingly showing Lily's slow descent into miserable loneliness.

Despite that, Wharton's writing is pure flowering poetry with a knack for evocation ("Her small pale face seemed the mere setting of a pair of dark exaggerated eyes"), and has a sensual quality with all the descriptions of silks, plants, soft light and luxurious mansions. And she vividly portrays the upper echelons of New York society at the time -- affairs, gossip and gilded salons -- as well as the restricted lives of women

But Wharton is just as capable of describing the darker, sadder world that Lily falls into ("... blurred the gaunt roof-lines, threw a mauve veil over the discouraging perspective of the side streets"). Sedoesn't pull any punches with the tragic finale, which has a distinct air of inevitability about it -- no fairy-tale last-minute save by a Prince Charming.

Lily starts out the book as a glimmering satellite of society, who can be rather selfish and cruel, but who nevertheless gains some sympathy because she just doesn't deserve everything that happens. The cruel, glittering society of the time had no room for women who stood outside the lines, and Lily's slow downward spiral is an illustration of this -- she's driven into miserable poverty and drug addiction. Lovely.

"The House of Mirth" is anything but mirthful -- it's the study of a woman's slow downfall, and the cruel society that left her friendless and disgraced. Haunting and vivid. ... Read more

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"...in the first place, New York was a metropolis, and perfectly aware that in metropolises it was 'not the thing' to arrive early at the opera; and what was or was not 'the thing' played a part as important in Newland Archer's New York as the inscrutable totem terrors that had ruled the destinies of his forefathers thousands of years ago." ... Read more